Field
The present disclosure relates to an electronic device, a method for controlling the electronic device, and a storage medium that enable a user to operate the electronic device with a touch operation and that prevents an erroneous operation and an erroneous detection.
Description of the Related Art
Portable terminals, e.g., smartphones and tablet computers, have become popular and been widely used in recent image processing environments. The development of various related techniques will further promote the spread of the portable terminals. As characteristic features of these portable terminals, each user can select arbitrary application software (hereinafter, referred to as “application”) and freely install the selected application on a portable terminal.
Software running on a central processing unit (CPU) incorporated in such a portable terminal has a configuration similar to that of a personal computer (PC). The software configuration can be roughly divided into an operating system (OS) layer and an application layer. Each user can enjoy various types of functional and convenient features that can be provided by a portable terminal when the user selects and installs an arbitrary application.
A touch panel attached to the terminal body is another feature of the above-described portable terminal. The touch panel is different from conventional buttons and switches in that the software provides various methods for inputting operational instructions. Therefore, there are various applications and operation procedures proposed for the portable terminals each being equipped with the touch panel.
As discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-253716, there is a conventional portable terminal that enables a user to perform input operations in the same manner as an ordinary remote controller if the terminal body is held in the vertical direction and can recognize gesture input operations performed on the touch panel if the terminal body is held in the horizontal direction, so that the user can perform various operations intuitively.
There are various touch panel-based applications proposed for digital still cameras that can record still images and digital video cameras that can record moving images. The software running on the CPU can provide various functions for these cameras to input operational instructions via the touch panel based on the content thereof. In this case, enhancing multiple functions and downsizing the camera body can be satisfied simultaneously.
Erroneous operations or erroneous detections can occur when a user performs an image related operation on the touch panel of the portable terminal discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-253716. For example, an erroneous operation can occur when a user holding a smartphone unintentionally touches the user's figure on an operational surface of the touch panel. The smartphone will perform a predetermined processing based on this unintended touch, which will result in implementation of an unintended operation.
A recent trend in smartphones has been to provide smartphones with sophisticated shapes that satisfy various requirements, e.g., downsizing, attractive product design, etc. Therefore, an external shape of the smartphone may not be suitable for a user to hold with the user's hand. In particular, to satisfy contradictory requirements of increasing the screen size of the touch panel while downsizing the smartphone body, a peripheral portion of the smartphone's touch panel is positioned in close proximity to an external periphery of the smartphone body. Therefore, when a user holds the smartphone, a user's finger can unintentionally touch the touch panel causing an unintended operation to be implemented.
Mobile terminals with touch panels, such as smartphones and tablets can be used in various conditions and in various situations. For example, to enable users to utilize mobile terminals in wet environments, e.g., in the rain, in recent years, waterproof mobile terminals have emerged in the marketplace. In addition, various waterproof cases have become available for mobile terminals that are not waterproof themselves. When a user uses a waterproofed mobile terminal in a wet environment, water droplets, etc., can adhere to the mobile terminal's touch panel. The adhesion of water droplets, etc., can be erroneously recognized as a touch operation by the user.